Understanding the Value of Email in Marketing

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Email campaigns are the most affordable marketing tools, and most effective, to boot. There’s no secret to their success, either: an overwhelming percentage of grownups use email on a daily basis, spending ca. 5.4 hours per day browsing incoming messages.

In fact, 92 percent of online adults use email, 61 percent of which do it daily. Employees spend 13 hours per week, on average, addressing incoming email. Plus, 57 percent of email subscribers spend 10 to 60 minutes reading emails per week.

The trick to increase ROI with the help of email marketing is making the messages mobile-ready. Mobile device usage is on the rise, with percentages so skyrocketing that the trend can be hardily overlooked.

Email is likely to remain a key factor in driving marketing success, due to three factors:

Email services are free
Email messages can be as long as they need to be to attract customers
Email messages are accessible across devices

Now, let’s look at some figures to get an idea of the scope of the value email marketing generates:

The percentage of new mobile device users is ca. 20 percent per annum
53 percent of emails are read on mobile devices
23 percent of mobile readers revisit email messages at least one more time
70 percent of emails are re-read on mobile devices
Mobile device users re-reading emails on a computer are 65 percent more likely to click through
75 percent of Gmail users read email messages on mobile devices
One-third of overall clicks happen on mobile devices

As far as businesses go, they are increasingly realizing the value of email marketing. Here are some stats:

– 50 percent of small- and medium-size businesses make use of marketing automation

– Email marketing has an ROI of 4400 percent

– The average order value per an email message is approximately three times higher than the order value per social media ad

– 77 percent of ROI is generated through targeted and segmented campaigns

Making the Best of Email Marketing Campaigns

To make email campaigns as successful as they can get, the following four factors need to be taken into account: deliverability, optimization, personalization, and segmentation.

Deliverability

In order to even start considering earnings, you need to make certain your messages (or, at least, the majority of them) are actually reaching customers’ inboxes. Choose a trusted email service provider (check for blacklists) and never ever use spam trigger words (look for the CAN-SPAM Act to help you set your campaigns on the right track). To ensure that your messages are not flagged as spam, even when customers find them irrelevant (work on segmentation to ensure they are not), make certain to add an unsubscribe button at the end of all the messages you send. Statistics show that a large percentage of emails end up flagged as spam because customers aren’t given the option to unsubscribe.

Optimization

As shown above, mobile device usage is on the rise. It goes without saying that email campaigns must be mobile-ready. The same goes for landing pages. Getting a customer to click on the offer is only half of the job. You will wish them to make a purchase, and if the page they are redirected to upon clicking on the offer is not mobile-ready, it’s a small chance that outcome will come to pass.

Personalization

Think of personalization as good manners. Virtual communication has its etiquette, as well as human interaction does. Address your customers cordially, but remain professional. You’d be surprised to learn how effective this strategy is, especially because not many businesses apply it.

Segmentation

Segmentation is the key to driving success. The importance of making use of insights is not less than in the case of traditional marketing strategies. Insights on demographics, behavioral data and purchase history will help you deliver just the content each customer is looking forward to seeing. People have their own preferences and shopping habits, and it is, therefore, essential to not send irrelevant messages, lest they are flagged as spam.

What Kind of Emails Are Customers Looking Forward to Receiving?

The answer to this question will ensure your email marketing campaigns are successful in the long run. Albeit, it holds true that every person has different purchasing habits, so it is also known that some types of email are more welcome than others. Those include sales promotions, newsletters, welcome messages and order status emails.

Sales promotions are a happy occurrence. It is even better when some of them are a tradition because customers will know when to expect them. A good example is an annual sale taking place on the same date every year.

Newsletters are a powerful tool. They announce benefits to come and keep customers updated on the offers and promotions. Different businesses establish different practice; newsletters can be quarterly, monthly or bi-monthly.

Welcome messages will show your customers that you care about them. Address them by name and add a sentence or two to make them feel special.

Order status emails are what make a regular customer a loyal customer. Too many businesses have lost prospective buyers because they failed to provide them with crucial info in terms of purchases. Types of status updates every customer will wish to receive include receipts, order confirmations, shipment confirmations, shipment tracking, and delivery confirmations.

Keeping in mind all the perks of email marketing mentioned above, it should be easy to conclude how important the funnel is to company strategy. Try it! You might be surprised at the speed of the results.

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